Wednesday, June 12, 2013

ATF Sting On Craigslist?

I've noticed a lot of ads selling guns and gun stuff in the Craiglist Sporting Goods classifieds. Some are selling or trying to buy AR-15 rifles or parts. Saw one similar to this ad the other day. I'm not sure if it was by the same guy but same type of wording. In the one from the other day the guy said he was interested in buying guns or empty brass for various rifles.

I have some gun stuff I've been wanting to get rid of. I sent the guy an e-mail saying I had a bunch of empty shotgun hulls, shotgun wads and even 25 pounds of #6 lead shot he could have for free. You'd think he'd at least want the lead shot. Nope. He never replied. That seems strange as if he was willing to buy a bunch of stuff you'd think he'd certainly take it for free.

Makes me wonder if some of these gun and gun parts ads are some sort of law enforcement sting operation? Post an ad. Find out what the guy has and, if it seems as if it might be illegal, set up a meet.

If it was a sting, wouldn't they at least reply to e-mails and say they're not interested to give themselves an air of legitimacy? Either that, or the guy thought I was a spammer so ignored me?

Addendum: Interesting that I just checked the link to the ad I mentioned and that ad has been flagged for removal. That had shouldn't be illegal as he was offering non- working gun parts.

6 Comments:

At 9:29 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Fred, there are all sorts of scams on craigslist, i buy and sell alot of cars/trucks/motorcycles from craigslist and it seems about 30-40 percent are some sort of scam,some want you to send them money and they will have the vehicle shipped ect. not to long ago a guy from our area was looking to trade some weed for a boat the police set up a sting and had him drive to another county and busted him for transportation and sales...oh and they kept the boat, have a great day, puff n tuff

 
At 9:49 AM, Blogger Fred Mangels said...

Believe me, I know there's all sorts of not so legit stuff on Craigslist, plus the spammers.

I was surprised when I first started placing ads there how often I'd get a reply to my ad within a minute or two. Some were pretty obvious, like the time I advertised something as "Free" and a couple minutes later I get a reply asking if "the item you had for sale is still available".

Well, it wasn't for sale, for one thing, and legit CL users wouldn't mention it's for sale in a reply. I can usually tell the legit responses now.

Another rather obvious one was someone advertising "Free Savannah Cats". I was tempted to reply to that if only because I thought it was bs. Savannah cats go for thousands of dollars. Fortunately, someone else replied before me and posted an ad saying the advertisers would just direct you to their web site where they'd try to sell you savannah cats.

And then there law enforcement and criminals who advertise there. I'm sure some of these gun ones must be attempts at a sting.

 
At 10:24 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Henchman Of Justice" says,

If a human can imagine it, a human will do it.

If law enforcement uses adults to play online as a child to get after "prospective" child molestors and rapists, it seems illegal guns would not "not be sought in the same online fashion".

Heck, NSA, IRS, etc....Big Brother is concerned about some things.

HOJ

 
At 9:30 AM, Blogger Travis said...

Well selling any gun over Craigslist in California is ilegal unless you go through a registered gunbroker but selling gun parts should be legal although like Facebook and Twitter Craigslist sensors things whether they're legal or not

 
At 9:43 AM, Blogger Fred Mangels said...

There's also a number of internet trolls that go around flagging stuff they don't like.

 
At 10:31 PM, Blogger Dcmorey74 said...

I had an event on craigslist recently where I had an item worth about $600 up for barter for a few days. I recieved a text message from this guy that he had an AK-47 for trade the only visible problem I could see is he lived in Ohio and I lived in Michigan. I told him it was illegal to buy and transport firearms across state border. He started acting wierd.....not wierd like he was afraid he was gonna get in trouble but like he was waiting for me to ask him to break the law......This rifle was beautiful all the bells and whistles red dot scope everything. Even came with 200 rounds of ammo. I asked him to go to a gun shop and we could have it transported legally from one gun shop to another. All he said was "if you ever move to Ohio give me call". That was the end of the converaation. I really believe he was an ATF officer or some type of law enforcement officer. I don't mind them watching there is a lot of wierd and bad people lurking on craigslist. In regards to the guy going to jail for trying to purchase a boat with marijuana I've had people offer me marijuana for items I've posted on craigslist. They passes the laws in Michigan for medical marijuana and people ran with it. Taking advantage of being a care giver and thinking they can have and do whatever they want with marijuana.

 

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